What Studio

Released 16 July 2013        Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by What?Studio

Catalogue Number: LP048 Format: Ltd Edition Vinyl LP packaged in a full colour sleeve Release Date:17th September 2012

Originally commissioned for Liverpool Light Night (2010) and honed over a ten-month period of notable live performances alongside Rhys Chatham and Philip Jeck, ‘Mallet Guitars Two’ broadens the groups’ pulsing percussive minimalism into a full spectrum shimmer of electrified strings, chattering percussion and meditative brass.

Incorporating prepared third-bridge guitars to create a chorusing attack of alternating chords and a bamboo-struck field of flaring harmonics, ‘Mallet Guitars Two’ explores the melodic potential of overtones and drones generated through multiple electric guitars. Anchored by the mesmericrepetition of three fixed chords and incorporating tuned singing bowls alongside gong-like washes of cymbal, this composition exhibits a further refinement of Ex-Easter Island Head’s unique guitar minimalism.

Translated as “One who is lost”, Moai Hava is a ritually significant relic of the now lost Tangata Manu (Bird-Man) religion of Easter Island. Taken from a burial ground on the island in 1868 by the crew of the British ship HMS Topaze, it is unknown whether this name refers to a deceased ancestor or the act of removal from the island, but his relocation coincides with the cataclysmic end of a culture which had existed on the island for around one-thousand years.

Recorded live before an audience of several hundred people, ‘Music for Moai Hava’ was commissioned for performance around the statue itself in the cavernous atrium of the World Museum,Liverpool.

The piece sees Ex-Easter Island Head collaborating with members of the a.P.A.t.T Orchestra, an inclusive ensemble of no fixed size or instrumentation, bringing together players of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.

Performed with a twenty-seven piece ensemble, scored for mallet and third-bridge guitars, drums, hand percussion and voices, ‘Music For Moai Hava’ sees Ex-Easter Island Head’s guitar-struck minimalism at the centre of a ritualistic rattle of bamboo, handclaps, cymbals, bells, gongs and shakers before a horizon-line drone of prepared guitars ushers in a swelling chorus of wordless vocals, amplified by the five-storey space of the museum’s vast atrium.

Recorded and mixed by Stephen Cole at What?Studio

Track List:

Side A: Mallet Guitars Two, Movements 1 to 4

Side B: Music For Moai Hava

Available to purchase and download from Low Point records:

http://www.low-point.com/LP048.html

Pitchfork Said:

" A record of repetition and rumbling resonances so beguiling that it's easy to see how making it could have absorbed whole days... the prosaically titled "Mallet Guitars Two Second Movement", brings to mind Rhys Chatham's seminal work with tone, and John Cage's rhythmic sensibilities as filtered through early Clogs releases." Boomkat: "Drifting from the luxurious drone of the opening part into choppy percussive waves of guitar into almost total percussion...from the opening notes it’s clear the band are expertly placed to explore these styles with precision and confidence." Norman records: "Hypnotic, otherwordly experimental minimalism...four movements of hypnotic polyrhythms with shimmering chords and cymbal washes making a drowsy and immersive concoction which recalls the likes of Moondog, Philip Glass and Rhys Chatham. 5/5"

Also critically acclaimed the Wire's website.

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"Opening with the pummeling barbarism of

Hot Squash

, the record bleeds into a visceral assault on the senses in keeping with their choice support slots of

Chrome Hoof

,

Dalek

,

Action Beat

and

Melt Banana

.

Track two, Accent, is a warped detour through the entrails of deep psychosis which pauses for breath around the four minute mark before diving headlong into a warped abyss of bleak nose-bleed-inducing techno.

Modulated, frenetic synths and tribal clatter punctuate the noisy pop stomp of Les Noisettes while Colin & Candy has all the hallmarks of an a.P.A.t.T. dance hall number melding grinding electronica, jazz-time percussion and syncopated rhythms. Indeed, it should come as little surprise, that a.P.A.t.T.'s General Midi's production paws are all over the murky mixing desk." Liverplop ECHO

Mixed / Produced / Mastered by G.Midi & Barberos 2012. Recorded by J.Stig at DDTDB 2011.

Mixed by Stephen Cole at What?Studio Artwork by MJF Chance.

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Must be the sixth or seventh time ZATZ have come back for Mastering from What Studio? Yes?